‘Affirmative action’ amendment SCA 5 withdrawn for revision

Students on campus at USC on Thursday, March 13, 2014. Southern California’s Asian-Americans are divided on whether to support a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow universities and colleges to consider race or gender in public education admissions and programs.
David Crane — Staff photographer

Olivia Liao, president of the Joint Chinese University Alumni Association, speaking to media Friday, March 7, 2014 at the San Gabriel Hilton Hotel.
Walt Mancini — Staff photographer

Reacting to outrage from some Asian-Americans, state Sen. Ed Hernandez on Monday withdrew a proposed constitutional amendment that critics said would lift a 16-year ban on affirmative action in California’s higher education system.

Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, said he does not have enough support to place the constitutional amendment before voters in November. Instead, he said lawmakers will form a task force to study the issue of access to higher education.

Hernandez, D-West Covina, said he knew Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 5, which he authored, would create a difficult discussion.

“The overwhelming majority of the Legislature in both houses believes that we have an obligation to provide the broadest access to our three higher education institutions: community colleges, CSUs and UCs,” Hernandez said in a statement.

SCA 5, if passed, would have repealed portions of Proposition 209, a 1996 regulation that prohibits preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. SCA 5 was initiated to address a drop-off in black and Latino college admissions, primarily in the University of California system. The fall in enrollment was especially pronounced in California’s most competitive public schools, UC Berkeley and UCLA.

The proposal drew loud opposition from Asians, whose enrollment in the UC system has been more than double their share of California’s total population since the ban on racial preferences took effect.

“As lifelong advocates for the Asian American and other communities, we would never support a policy that we believed would negatively impact our children,” the three wrote in a joint letter that was issued last week.

Yee said he supports affirmative action but wants a task force and experts to help Asian-Americans understand why Proposition 209 should be unraveled before referring the matter to voters.

Olivia Liao, president of the Joint Chinese University Alumni Association, said SCA 5 is discrimination against Asian-Americans, especially Chinese.

Liao said she doesn’t believe SCA 5 will not impose a racial quota system in higher education admissions, something the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.

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“Because we only have so much student population in the UCs, if you’re going to raise one side, you’re going to have to lower the others,” Liao said. “I think that for higher education, we should really base it on merit.”

Asian-American groups such as the Chinese Alliance for Equality and the Vietnam Cambodia and Laos Chinese Association of America have rallied against the referendum.

The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, however, wants to bring affirmative action back into education. Spokesman Jonathan Tran said legislation should be passed to create educational opportunities for all.

“(Many) Southeast Asians arrived in the country as refugees. There are barriers to being able to adapt to the U.S. and its educational system,” Tran said. “The people coming from Taiwan, China or India — a lot of those immigrants are coming over with a lot of technical skills, a lot of privilege, a lot of resources. Southeast Asians, we started off with nothing — very similar to how Latino communities come to the U.S.”

Only 12 percent of Laotian-Americans and 14 percent of Hmong and Cambodian Americans have bachelor’s degrees, according Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Yet Liao said change should be made at the K-12 level, not during college admissions. Chinese parents, she said, invest in after-school programs and SAT programs for their students. Many Chinese students sacrifice up to 15 hours a week to go to extra classes, and they should be rewarded for their diligence, she said.

The San Gabriel Valley is full of after-school programs that cater to the Chinese community, Tran said. He knew about them when he was younger but he said his parents couldn’t afford them.

Hernandez said he wants to get more positive information out to the public and to dispel what he calls misinformation about SCA 5. To do that, he said he will create a commission of elected officials; experts in constitutional law; community leaders from different ethnic groups; students; parents; and representatives from the UCs, CSUs and community colleges.

The point, he said, is to address concerns opponents have, which might mean amending or even rewriting the proposal.

Hernandez said public educational institutions will continue to admit highly qualified students, but if GPA, SAT score, extracurricular activities and other determinants are equal, UCs and CSUs should consider admitting underrepresented populations so that higher education institutions would more accurately reflect California’s communities.

Political calculations are also in play. The proposed constitutional amendment was a point of discussion at this past weekend’s California GOP convention.

California Republican Party vice chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon told reporters Saturday that her party’s candidates have been seizing on disaffected Asian voters across the state.

“It is just math that affirmative action suppresses Asian-Americans and Jewish Americans,” Dhillon said. “So that is going to turn out those Asian voters who live in California because their dream is to send their kids to UC Berkeley or UCLA or one of those top schools.”

The amendment can be placed on a statewide ballot only with two-thirds votes in both houses of the Legislature. If Democrats lose their supermajorities in just one of the chambers this year, the amendment is unlikely to succeed. Republicans were unanimous in their opposition when SCA 5 passed the Senate.